Ouija Board: Fact Or Fiction?

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A Ouija board is an instrument through which messages are supposedly communicated by the dead. The name comes from a combination of the French word "oui" and the German word "ja," both meaning "yes" in English. Although there is no concrete evidence proving its effectiveness, its main purpose is to contact those who have passed on to the "other side."

The Ouija board was invented in the early 1890s by E.C. Reiche, Charles Kennard, and Elijah Bond, then improved upon and mass marketed by William Fuld. Promoted as half game and half seance medium, some people consider the Ouija to be much more than just a game.

what is it?

The idea of a Ouija board first came about in 1848, when two sisters from the United States believed they could talk to a spirit. They tried communicating with the entity by tapping on a table; each tap or knock representing a letter of the alphabet.

This method for contacting the dead was eventually transformed into the modern day "game" which we see in stores today, consisting of a board and a pointer, called a planchette (a slideable device). The board has the entire alphabet written on it, the numbers zero through nine, along with the words "yes," "no," "hello," and "goodbye." There are many types of boards that contain additional details including various shapes, designs, colors, and other information. It does not matter what any Ouija board has on it; what matters is making it work — which not everyone can do.

In 1891, a patent for the first modern Ouija board was granted to Elijah Bond. The next year, the rights were purchased by William Fuld. In 1966, the Parker Brothers purchased the rights to the Ouija board and relocated its manufacturing facilities to Salem, Massachusetts. Sold in novelty shops as a parlor game, the Ouija board outsold the game of Monopoly in its first full year at Salem — over two million copies of the Ouija board were sold.

a big hit

The Ouija board was extremely popular during and after World War I, when many were desperate to communicate with loved ones killed in battle. At one point, virtually every home in the United States had a Ouija board. People bought the Ouija board not as a game, but as a tool with which they would contact those that died. During this period, the craze spread, and so did the Ouija board's reputation for being more than just a game.